1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to a control device comprising a human machine interface unit used in a molding machine, such as an injection molding machine or die-cast molding machine, and a manufacturing method for molded articles manufactured by the molding machine.
2. Description of the Related Art
Molding machines using molds, such as injection molding machines, die-cast molding machines, etc., are configured to efficiently manufacture molded articles by repeating a series of cycles, including mold closing, injection, dwell, mold opening, etc., in a predetermined order, based on a sequential program stored in a control device. In the molding machine of this type, molding conditions are set for each mold used for a molded article. Before starting molding, therefore, operations are performed such that the molding conditions are retrieved from a storage device and input to the control device.
The molding machine is furnished with a human machine interface unit comprising a display section with a touchpanel such that the molding conditions can be retrieved and input by using the display section with the touchpanel. For example, the display section with the touchpanel is used to input various data on metering, injection, mold opening/closing, molded article take-out, etc., to a control section, and these data are displayed on the display section with the touchpanel.
In retrieving the molding conditions, operations are performed such that indices based on character information related to the molded articles and molds are listed on the display section with the touchpanel, a desired one of the indices is selected, and the molding conditions are called up.
According to Patent Document 1 (Jpn. Pat. Appln. KOKAI Publication No. 2001-88186), for example, character information representative of a plurality of kinds of mold data and the names of molded articles is listed on a display section with a touchpanel, and desired mold data and the like are selected from the character information so that the molding conditions, images of the molded articles, etc., can be simultaneously displayed. Alternatively, according to Patent Document 2 (Jpn. Pat. Appln. KOKAI Publication No. 2006-289911), indices based on character information representative of a plurality of types of molds and molded articles are listed on a display section with a touchpanel, and a desired one of these indices is selected so that a desired molded article or mold image and memo information can be simultaneously displayed.